by Marcia Wade Talbert

July 22, 2015

[Part 2 of 2] 4 More Things Entrepreneurs Can Do to Attract Customers and Increase Sales

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Jewel Burks, a Google Entrepreneur-in-Residence, spoke at Intuit’s QuickBooks Connect Chicago event to cue small companies in on the tricks of the trade when vying for online customers. In Part 1 of this article she focused on how to get online, set an advertising budget and identify your target customers.

Here are four more things she says entrepreneurs can do to attract customers and increase sales:

1. Adjust your bid. Once you’ve advertised, you might get a lot of people on your website but you don’t see conversions to sales. Determine what is working and what isn’t. You can make adjustments once you see what is turning into conversions for your business. Utilize web analytics, through tools like Google Analytics, to improve your website.

“You can pull levers,” says Burks. “Maybe your buy button isn’t big enough. Or it’s not in the right place. Maybe they can’t find the phone number. Those are some of the things you can track with Google Analytics.” Ask yourself how does your business differ from your competitors, and how can you portray that in an online campaign.

2. Simplify checkout. “Your website is a tool for your call to action. It shouldn’t be complicated for customers to do what you want them to do,” says Burks, who was a panelist at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference where she talked about the value of accelerators in helping startups to garner funding.. “There shouldn’t be 15 steps for them to call you.”

Speed up your website. Do speed tests to make sure your site loads properly. Involve your friends and family and ask them to test it out to make sure it is giving your customers the experience you want them to have.

3. Engage your customer on Social Media. “You have to be on social media because your customers are on social media,” says Burks. Follow where your target persona is on social media. You can get a lot of insights about customer behavior there. Think about where they spend most of their time so you can target them where they are. Create content to drive people to your website. Target customers via video on Youtube.

Review sites can be just as helpful, says Burks. “Say ‘Thank you’ for nice reviews, but leave a private message for poor reviews. Don’t go back and forth arguing with a customer.” Having a strategic and all-encompassing social media plan can take a lot of time, so use a tool like Hootsuite, which will allow you to create posts for the week in advance.

“Make sure you still throw out fresh content throughout the week,” says Burks, “Reminding the audience how events in the news can be capitalized upon to win customers.” “Also, make sure you are tracking your success. You can’t just put stuff out there and hope for the best. Google Analytics will show you how people engage with your sight.”

4. Be mobile. Should you get your sight designed for mobile? Yes, says Burks. “That has to be at the forefront. If not, customers are accessing your site from a mobile device and they are having a bad experience.”

“Make sure people have a great experience wherever they are and no matter what device they use,” says Burks. “Be touch-screen friendly. Make sure whatever you want them to do they can easily do it from a mobile experience.” Don’t use pop-ups on mobile sites. They can be distracting and confusing. Don’t assume they will wait until they get home to their desktop computer before they fill out a form or make a call. They won’t. They will go to your competitor’s site if your site isn’t intuitive.

For more great tools and resources for online advertising campaigns call 1-877-763-9802 or visit AccelerateWithGoogle.com